text: As in other social Hymenoptera, bumblebee queens have also been shown to release characteristic pheromones to signal their presence and stop the workers from reproducing. In Bombus terrestris, for example, two studies have shown that workers resorbed oocytes more often and had fewer developing oocytes in their ovaries after treatment with the queen-characteristic cuticular hydrocarbon pentacosane. Similar activity of queen-specific cuticular hydrocarbons has also been documented in Bombus impatiens, as well as in several other species of ants and wasps.